Locations

The HZI is continuously building a network of closely aligned strategic partnerships with universities, research institutions and hospitals. Its primary objective is to create synergies which establish the optimal conditions for an efficient transfer of knowledge from basic research to medical application: HZI Locations.

The Strategy of the HZI

Learn more about how the HZI, with its translational focus, will help to facilitate a faster and more targeted approach when it comes to fighting and preventing existing, emerging or recurring infectious diseases.

Working at the HZI

Around 900 employees in research, administration and infrastructure, and about 220 visiting scientists from 40 different countries are employed at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research. To ensure top quality research we need top quality employees. Your creativity and innovative capabilities are the basis for the long-term success of our work. That's why we undertake a great deal to attract the best people to us. Learn more about this.

Feature

Systems BiologyThe goal of systems biology is to describe the dynamic processes of life and of biological systems using mathematical models. In line with the foundation of the new Braunschweig Integrated Centre of Systems Biology (BRICS) we have compiled some background information about systems biology for you: To the systems biology feature.

During an infection by a virus our body recognises certain viral molecules as "foreign" and initiates a signalling cascade in an attempt to combat the invaders. A central role in this cascade is played by the "mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein" (MAVS), which the researchers from Braunschweig inspected in much detail. "We decided to study the MAVS proteins because they play an important role for signal transduction of our innate immune system. These proteins react to many different Viruses, mainly RNA-Viruses such as Hepatitis, influenza or Dengue," says Prof Christiane Ritter, who is the director of the Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy platform, or NMR for short, at the HZI. The Protein is present on the mitochondrial membrane, which supplies our cells with energy, and is therefore significantly involved in the defense against infections.

During an Infection by a virus, the Protein agglomerates into a spirally arranged superstructure that was difficult to visualise three-dimensionally at high resolution until now. Combining NMR data with the mathematical algorithm, the researchers could successfully elucidate the symmetry of single molecules on screw-shaped filaments in the MAVS Protein at high resolution.

The principle of NMR spectroscopy is to measure distances between individual atomic nuclei from which an image can be calculated. To be able to correctly determine the structure of protein complexes, the contact sites between the individual components need to be assigned as well. The individual protein molecules need to be studied separately for this purpose. "We solved this problem using biochemical approaches and special sample preparation," Ritter says. The newly developed Algorithm systematically checks all possibilities of symmetry. It goes on to compare the results of these checks to the NMR spectroscopic data to yield an accurate image of the protein.

But this imaging procedure does not only work with MAVS proteins. It might be used in the future by researchers to study any protein complex that comprises symmetrical and filament-like structures. Aside from other signaling proteins, this procedure can also be applied to the investigation of many molecules on the surface of bacteria. The new structural analysis lays the foundation for active-substance research and also contributes to a better understanding of the immune system and its response. This is essential, for example, to be able to develop agents that can intervene in the regulation of our immune system. "The combination of NMR data and a mathematical algorithm for structure determination of helical superstructures is a major advance both in technology and in biology," Ritter says.